“we use the same language to talk about cause-based movements as the internet: building ‘networks’, ‘marketplaces’, etc.”

“the fastest growing internet corporations are ‘pure plays’ — entirely online. It’s harder to get people to actually change what they’re going to do on a Saturday afternoon. But as people get more familiar with being in a network, being in a marketplace, that [behavior change] will become easier. And it will be sustainable because the low-cost, scalable infrastructure of the Internet helps [reinforce] that behavior.”

thought-provoking: “Who in this room spends time with their friends in East Palo Alto? The borders that we draw in Silicon Valley have just as much impact as the ones in Gaza.”

Yvonne Lee Schultz

what happens when you turn guns into chocolate?

Alberto Vollmer – CEO of leading Venezuelan rum distillery & bottler

Project Alcatraz – criminal re-insertion into employment

[opposing violent criminal gangs in Venezuela] “We have to retaliate, but it has to be creative; it can’t be violent.”

[presenting a recruiting pitch in middle of gang-dominated slum] “I came here to make you dream. Let’s talk about what kind of TV you’re going to have, what do you want for your kids, what kind of restaurants will be here.”

“example: retirement planning is based on assumption of 8.5% annual return on investments. that assumption is based on last 100 years of economic data. problem: last 100 years have been a time of incredible accelerating technological improvement. if you ran that same analysis on 1200-1300 A.D. or the last 100 years of the Roman Empire, you’d be lucky to get 0% return, just to keep your money. Trouble is that the pace of technological progress seems to be slowing…”

“people seem to be working harder, running really hard just to stay in place.”

“when people talk about progress in the developing world — China, India — it’s always a 20 year story. Life there will be so much better in the next 20 years because they’ll get all the things that the developed world has now. But when we talk about progress in the developed countries, it’s always on 6 month time scale. Is the recession over? What’s the market going to be like in 6 months? Why do we not talk about how life will be dramatically better in the developed world in 20 years?”

“of 538 congress people, 11 have degrees in engineering. they all think that ‘science and technology are solved by other people.’ but if everyone thinks that, then that’s a problem.”

Thomas Goetz, ex-Wired editor, Public Health MA

“Life is an experiment. How can we turn this into more of a controlled experiment?”

Health information is dumped on us, scattered, disconnected. Not effective. Health problems are increasing in US.

“Hawthorne effect — when people know they are being observed, they changed behavior. Usually experimenters want to get rid of the Hawthorne effect. But Kansas City orthodontist experiment shows that we can use Hawthorne effect to drive behavior change [brushing teeth more with ‘experimental’ toothpaste]. Also applies to weight loss [e.g., taking daily photo of your weight on scale].”

“Whitehall experiment — controlling for diet and habits, people of high social standing were 2X less likely to die of heart disease than those of low social standing. Why? Control. People at top of social ladder have more control over their lives than those at the bottom.”

“Feedback and Groups are effective, powerful driver of behavior change.”

“Need a control tool: an algorithm, a decision tree that anyone can follow.”

“We want tools and techniques that have minimal friction and scale.”

“Data means more when it’s our own.”

“The more we mind our health, the better we are.”

“Don’t just make people responsible, but give them the tools and data to make behavioral change.”

David de Rothschild – explorer, both poles

“When people ask about expeditions, the question that has stuck with me: ‘How was it out there?’ What does that mean, ‘out there’?”

“Kids are learning about nature, but they’re not out there, in it.”

“Nature Defiancy Disorder”

“We view nature as chaotic, intimidating. But we like to think things in a linear fashion, things have a start and an end.”

“We are starting to manufacture nature at the expense of nature itself.”

“GDP is a deception — we treat the cost on nature as an externality. It’s like kid who puts up a lemonade stand, says they made $20 when the lemons, the jug, the sugar, all the materials were paid for by his mom.”

“when you undertake a dream it becomes an adventure. adventures create stories. humanity is based on stories. stories become the inspiration for more dreams.” [sidenote: that’s a viral loop]

“humanity always wants to take the path of least resistance. curiousity and innovation may lead you down a different path, NOT the path of least resistance.”

“you never change something by fighting existing reality. you change things by building a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” [Buckminster Fuller quote]

“computer systems are analogy for biological systems. insight: you can look at humans as a network of trillions of computers.”

“computers and networks break in ways that are similar to biological systems.”

“DNA is genetic instructions, biological software.”

“We generated so much data, information about genetics & cancer through research. we generate lots of research, we pay a lot of researchers. but fundamentally, we need to realize that research does not make therapies. Who makes therapies? Developers.”

“we’re spending more and more on research, while getting fewer and fewer and therapies actually produced.”

“research is exponential [more and more every year], development is linear [can’t keep up, obsolete before it’s even delivered]”

“how about focus on the very end of the long tail? one therapy for one person: YOU”

“build viruses based on your own DNA, that attack one particular type of cancer in your own body while leaving the rest of your cells alone.”

“co-operative business model – the first drug company for people that don’t need to make a profit”